ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explores the relationship between music and gay identity in Cuba since the onset of the Special Period. It shows how 'action' incited by liminality, marginality, and structural inferiority is related to music by using music to create spaces of identity and anchors of relative stability, from clandestine parties to religious ceremonies. The book investigates the concept of ritual in its primary religious context and metaphorically. It covers the musical face of the ambiente during the last dozen years of Fidel Castro's reign, a time of many developments, mirrored by the emergence of new musical genres as timba and reggaeton, as well as the nostalgic return to such older genres as bolero. The book focuses on both nostalgia and escapism and the musical spaces it features.
